This Time Round

Director Francisco Núñez:

The vision guiding This Time Round was to capture the emotional journey of children during the chaotic and challenging period of the first year of the Pandemic. As the doors to our rehearsal rooms closed and deep isolation set in throughout New York City, it was all too clear that our community needed to evolve in new ways to connect. This project was born of an essential necessity: to find a way to keep my children’s chorus, YPC, singing despite being quarantined in their homes.

I began to talk with the children as a group, via Zoom, about their feelings and experiences. As we began to sing again, it also became apparent that the children were increasingly less connected, just as much, if not more so, than adults around us. My choristers were overwhelmed by the daily news, and their parents going out to care for others, not knowing if they would come back home that night.

In response, I was inspired to commission fifteen incredible composers, who created an assemblage of masterpieces capturing this unprecedented moment we were collectively and individually facing. The new pieces had to be musically simple because we were limited to recording remotely. Each composition is a ‘round,’ a musical term for a simple song with a repeating phrase, which I thought would be easier to sing over Zoom. I chose these composers because they are trusted friends and collaborators of the Young People’s Chorus. They know our voices, they know us – but also, they happen to be the best in the world. The documentary’s title, This Time Round, is a play on words, because we sang rounds during this time.

The stories of these young singers were so strikingly vivid and raw, I knew they needed to be connected to and interwoven with these fifteen new compositions, fusing a multiplicity of perspectives, thoughts and feelings about this moment of crisis into one quilt of community experience. So, I purchased my first camera. And I began to record, socially distanced and masked. And the camera became an eye, a witness to the multifaceted fallout of this exceptional time in our lives. As the storytelling developed, I knew I needed to collaborate with a real pro to capture the experiences of these children. I asked an extraordinary, social impact filmmaker Ansley Sawyer, to help capture these stories sung by nearly 600 children and led by the dedicated conductors at YPC. The children recorded on their phones from closets and crowded living rooms. Gathering all of these vocal clips, we mixed and merged the melodies, creating from a distance what we couldn't create in person: one song, one voice.

These resulting vignettes were first debuted as an art exhibit at High Line Nine art gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea district. What began as an art show aimed at supporting students' mental health during Covid, blossomed into a profound exploration of resilience and hope. The unexpected success of the exhibit led to a visit from a former Board Member of the Toronto Film Festival. This person proposed that I submit this unique collection of children’s voices to their festival.

As COVID continued into the second year, my next step was to follow up with the composers and children, filming interviews about their individual stories—reflecting back and looking ahead. Through these interviews, we unveiled layer upon layer of emotions experienced during the quarantine—fear, isolation, grief, and, ultimately, glimmers of hope.

Contrary to misconceptions at the time, the impact of the Pandemic on children's mental health cannot be underestimated. The film This Time Round is a visual testament to these composers’ and young artists' struggles and triumphs, from the depths of isolation to their gradual reemergence into a changed world. Through the lens of the camera, we witness the resilience of 600 children, finding solace in music and sharing their voices with the world.